Clotilde (slave ship)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
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| Name: | Clotilda |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Slave ship |
| Length: | 86 ft (26 m) |
| Beam: | 23 ft (7.0 m) |
| Sail plan: | Schooner |
The schooner Clotilde (or Clotilda) was the last known U.S. slave ship to bring captives from Africa to the United States, arriving at Mobile Bay in autumn 1859 (some sources give the date as July 9, 1860), with 110-160 slaves. The ship was a two-masted schooner, 86 feet (26 m) long with a beam of 23 ft (7.0 m). The vessel was burned and scuttled at Mobile Bay, soon after. The sponsors had arranged to buy slaves in Whydah, Dahomey on May 15, 1859.
Many descendants of Cudjo Kazoola Lewis, the last survivor of Clotilde, still reside in Africatown, a neighborhood of Mobile, Alabama. A memorial bust of him was placed in front of the Union Missionary Baptist Church there.
In autumn of 1859, the schooner Clotilde (or Clotilda), under the command of Captain William Foster, arrived in Mobile Bay carrying a cargo of enslaved Africans, numbering between 110 and 160 people. Captain Foster was working for Timothy Meaher, a wealthy Mobile shipyard owner and shipper, who had built Clotilde in 1856. Local lore relates that Meaher bet some "Northern gentlemen" that he could get around the 1807 law, which prohibited the importation of slaves, without getting caught.Clotilde was a two-masted schooner, 86 feet (26 m) long with a beam of 23 feet (7.0 m), and a copper-sheathed hull. Meaher had learned that West African tribes were fighting, and that the King of Dahomey was willing to trade Africans for US$50 each in the Kingdom of Whydah, Dahomey. Foster arrived in Whydah on May 15, 1859, bought Africans from several different tribes, including members of the Tarkbar tribe of Tamale, Ghana, and headed back to Mobile.
When Clotilde arrived, Federal authorities had been alerted to the illegal scheme. Fearful of criminal charges, Captain Foster arrived in the port at night and transferred his cargo to a riverboat, then burned Clotilde before sinking it. The African slaves were distributed to those having a financial interest in the Clotilde venture, with Timothy Meaher retaining 30 of the Africans on his property near Mobile.
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Wikipedia